Summer blockbusters

I have been traveling and writing stuff, random things, so get ready for a flurry of posts that have no real connection.

Random thoughts: Easy to get internet anywhere in the USA...Asia not so easy. Hong Kong has this PCCW network but you have to pay. Why can't we standardize the electrical plugs around the world. And why can't the USA just cave in and go to the metric system. I will run for President in 2012 with these two matters as my platform.

The real post:

A few years ago, there was a summer blockbuster. It also happens to be one of my most hated movies. Armageddon. How in the world did this movie not do anything but flop? I also remember that summer the movie “Deep Impact” came out as well and was a much better take on the whole ‘giant asteroid hits the earth’ theme.

What made Armageddon bad? 1. Lots of hype 2. Most of the action sequences involve the old ‘Star Trek’ staple of a shaking camera and people falling around in a spaceship 3. Clichéd characters—the Russian cosmonaut, the outlaw oil driller 4. Clichéd plot—the good of the many outweighs the good of the one 5. A theme song that rivaled “My Heart Must Go One” for most overplayed song of all time (“I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing”) All this equals a movie that should have bombed as badly as “Waterworld”.

One other thought on movies. I caught “John Q” the other day and I still think that movie would have been much better if they had allowed John to give his heart rather than make the movie the typical happy Hollywood ending. So much for original ideas.